WHEELING – Tuesday was Wheeling University’s Fall Sports Media Day, with coaches taking to the podium at the Alma Grace McDonough Center to give an introduction for their team’s upcoming season.

Today, a look at the Cardinals’ full-contact sports- football, women’s rugby and men’s rugby.

FOOTBALL

Last Season’s Record: 6-5 (5-4 MEC)

Last Season’s Standings: Tied-5th in MEC

The Cardinals have finished .500 or better each of the last three seasons, and hope to continue their winning ways this year with Landon Lutz, a backup over the last couple years who nonetheless saw plenty of playing time, taking the helm.

“Offensively, we had played two quarterbacks, we had a veteran quarterback in Javon Davis who was a really good player for us for three years, but had the injury bug,” Wheeling head football head coach Zac Bruney said. “Landon stepped into a role as the backup quarterback, and started games as our backup quarterback because you never know when your opportunity might come, but it happened for him a couple times in ’23 and ’24. He’s been a great player for us in a non-starting role. Now he becomes the full-time starter.”

Lutz threw for 1,338 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.

On the ground, Wheeling returns two experienced running backs in Stevie Mitchell and Dawaun Green. Mitchell led the team in rushing yards with 836 and six touchdowns, while Green had seven touchdowns of his own.

“Stevie Mitchell and Dawaun Green, kind of a two-headed monster in the running back room, played really well for us in 2024,” Bruney said. “Stevie’s kind of a swiss-army knife type of young man. He’s from Wheeling Park, he’s a local guy.”

In front of all of them is a veteran offensive line.

“The most veteran group that we have on the offense, besides the running back group who I’m fortunate to coach individually, is the offensive line,” Bruney said. “There’s six young men in that offensive line room who have started games for us. You’re kind of driven by your offensive and defensive lines, the guys who really get none of the glory but you can’t really have any success without really good guys up-front on offense and defense. It’s a good group- Justin Nelson, Nick Mahoney, Angel Figueroa, Alex Goodrick, Curtis Shaw, Peyton Hores, they’ve all started games for us and played significant roles.”

Conor Fitzpatrick will be the Cardinals’ kicker.

Defensively, Wheeling is led by defensive linemen like Marcell Chapman, Tyriek Scrivner, Dion McIntosh and Nikale Martin.

“They’re all veteran guys who have played roles for us, now their roles have expanded,” Bruney said. “They have more responsibility with more playing time comes more responsibility and more accountability. We’re going to be counting on them.”

Wheeling University is fielding a JV team, enabled partly by a large freshman class. In accordance with D-II rules, freshmen can play on a university’s JV team and still redshirt that season.

“We like to get those guys on the field, get them action and that hopefully gets them climbing the depth chart a little quicker,” Bruney said of the JV team’s creation. “The more participation and the more guys playing, that’s very important.”

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Last Season’s Record: 12-0 in 15s, 20-7-1 in 7s

Won NCR National Championship vs. Southern Nazarene

Coach Ken Pape’s squad is coming off a scorching start to their program- one that delivered all the Cardinals faithful could ask for and more. This year’s team will be led by players like Alexis Dallas and Bella Gullatta.

“Going 12-0 and winning a national championship in our first year was a pretty amazing accomplishment that I’m very proud of,” Pape said. “We’re really excited with our results in 15s as well as in 7s. I’m not really known as a 7s coach but last year we were able to take a sixth-place finish in the national collegiate rugby championship which was terrific. I want to point out that our success didn’t just end on the field, we had a massive amount of success in the classroom with a record 3.25 GPA for the team. I am just as proud of that as winning a national championship. We’re looking to build upon the successes from last year and continuing to build this program.”

In that vein, women’s rugby will also have a JV team this year.

“We are bringing over 25 more student athletes and only graduated one last year so our roster is going to be around that 60 mark. Our JV side will be competing in division two but will not be national championship eligible. Our D-I program will be playing in division one and fighting for another national championship. We’re looking to become the third team in history to win back-to-back national championships.”

Pape spoke about his team’s upcoming schedule for the season, which he likened to increasing the difficulty level in a video game.

“We raised our ‘difficulty setting’ this year and we look forward to playing tougher competition with teams like Penn State, Ohio State, Pitt coming to town and the newly-added Navy,” Pape said. “I think it’s the first time in the history of Wheeling that a service academy will be playing on our home field. It’s going to be an amazing accomplishment on the women’s side to have Navy here, they’re bringing their varsity and JV so our JV and varsity will be playing against them. They’re a top-rated program and we’re really excited about that.”

The announcements just kept coming for Wheeling women’s rugby, as Pape also touched on the possible creation of a new league of rugby teams that Wheeling was invited to.

“We’ve been invited to join something similar to what you soccer fans know as a champions league where all the top teams in the country will be playing in an invitational format- teams like BYU, Stanford, us, we’re the founding three members,” Pape said. “We’re still adding teams to that. Brigham Young is an absolutely monstrous rugby team, we’re really excited to play them. It’s going to be a challenging year, there’s no guarantee we’re going to have the same success as last year but obviously we’re going to be fighting to do that. We want to continue to grow Wheeling’s place in the collegiate rugby landscape and be known as the rugby school.”

MEN’S RUGBY

Last Season’s Record: 6-3 in 15s, 22-1-1 in 7s

The Cardinals’ mens rugby team had a very successful season in their own right, winning a collegiate 7s championship for the second consecutive season, and getting to the NCR 15s semifinals. This year’s team will be led by players like Shadreck Mandaza and Alex Nyamunda.

“Last year we finished fourth in the country in 15s and were able to bring home our second straight 7’s national championship,” first-year head coach Max Hamilton said. “That kind of success does not happen by accident.”

Like football and women’s rugby, men’s rugby will also present a JV team this season.

“This B-side is going to give us greater depth and internal competition. With a strong group of new incoming players joining, every spot on the field this year will be tested and have to be earned by the players. This is what is going to push our entire standard forward.

Lawula Bata will be the captain this year of a seasoned squad.

“We return a majority of our starting lineup from last year’s 15’s semifinal run,” Hamilton said. “With that experience comes the clear goal from the team- to raise our performance and set a new standard for Wheeling men’s rugby. This will be our first season competing in the newly-formed Atlantic Rugby Conference. Every opponent we face is ranked in the NCR top 10 which is exactly what we want. Every match will be a true and proper test.”

TOMORROW: Wheeling’s men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball teams previewed.